Anyone???

Bartolotta if you want a somewhat traditional fine dining (but not super fine dining) experience, in that you're at a table in a quiet restaurant. L'Atelier if you want the casual version of a fine dining experience, as it's all counter seating and more boisterous of a place but the food is fine dining quality. Both will set you back about the same, and will be similar in price to Picasso.

The prices at Mizumi seem absolutely absurd. There is no way anyone not comped eats there, right? $30 for a roll? Wat?

Thanks for the reply eco74.

I made some mistakes comparing prices and I think my budget might be a little higher than I led on. I only really had my heart set on Picasso because of how highly it was recommended by everyone.

I don't really have a max $ amount in mind, but my trip cost me $1k (flight + hotel) and I don't think I could live with going over that for a meal. Close, maybe, but the further away the better.

Realistically how much would I have to spend at the highest tier places? 2 people who will probably have a drink or 2. I was thinking Joel Robuchon.

Obviously for $1k for two people you can eat anywhere- but it would likely be right around that price at the top tier (Robuchon, Guy Savoy, etc), depending on how you do it. Picasso, Bartolotta, L'Atelier, a bunch of others would run you $300-400. I can't make myself spend a grand on dinner (somehow I can on Pai Gow though) so I haven't been to the top tier and can't tell you if they're that much better.

Wynn prices, yo

But who goes to a high-end Japanese place looking for rolls? I think it's funny that they even offer them. Guess they know it's only high-end pricing there, not high-end food.

Clark -

I shot you a pm a couple days, not sure if you saw it. I'd love to hear anything you may have to say about groups at Delmonico's.

Thanks,
Josh

you can eat anywhere for $1k assuming you don't go crazy with wine. I would look at some of the online blogs for a rundown of the type of food to expect and pictures. sites like kevineats.com or eatinglvs.com (search for the restaurant in question) for example.

Thanks again for the replies guys.

Would the 6 course meals be a good choice? I am reading mixed reviews, some say to go all out for the 16 course tasting menu, others say its too much food and they could barely finish the smaller course meals..

I mean 6 courses will definitely be enough food. And obviously 16 courses + bread + amuse + mignardise will be quite a bit but it is spaced out over 3 + hours.

We can't answer that question for you so just depends on your appetite.

have some M Life comps (any mgm property) and was craving some delicious caviar + oysters then maybe a steak so was all set for american fish when i find out they're closed for renovations.

so need a good steakhouse that serves caviar on any mgm property (craftsteak sadly does not offer caviar).

it appears as if my top 2 choices are jean gorges or mastros.
i've been to mastros in LA and now its great but i'm wondering about jean gorges as there are a bunch of apps and side dishes that look great.

anyone been there? any reviews?

i don't trust yelp at all so hoping i can get some input here.

cheers.

What about SeaBlue @ MGM? Also Michael Mina like American Fish. Primarily seafood but they also have steaks. Could also try Stripsteak at Mandalay Bay. Certain they have oysters - don't know about caviar.

i'd go to mastro's so then you can say you ate dinner in a treehouse

A few questions about the Carne Vino Riserva Steaks:

Are they readily available? Do you just get whatever cut they have on hand, or can you you call in advance and order a particular cut? What is the ballpark price?

Thanks in advance.

Went to Alize at the Palms:

Came here on a Friday night with a date, just a few hours after flying in. Not a huge fan of the Palms, especially after all the new hotels have been popping up. I was staying at the Cosmo which, in my opinion, is the best hotel on the strip currently. Regardless, I did like the ambiance and decor of Alize. The view was fantastic, you got a very clear look at the Vegas skyline from an off the strip hotel, which I was a huge fan of.

The food itself was the only reason I'm giving this place a 3 out of 5. I thought the service was just fine, the restaurant was completely dead at 9pm-12am on a Friday night which I thought was curious, but the food was nothing really memorable. Decent wine selection, but I've definitely had better food for the price ($500 with tip). I visited Sage the next night in the Aria and paid almost half as much for a better meal. "Overpriced" is never really an adjective I use but this place was just kind of meh.

Sage:

I went to Sage on a Saturday night around 6pm for dinner before heading to see the Jabbawockeez show at the Monte Carlo. This restaurant was pretty large, but I loved the decor and ambiance as soon as we walked in. The pictures were amazing from what I saw on Yelp but when you walk in you see it's pretty badass. We got there pretty early so it wasn't really busy at all at 6, but by about 8 when we were done most of the tables were full.

The food was fantastic, course after course. We started with the waygu beef tartare and farm egg to share and both were amazing. My main course was the kobe skirt steak which was perfectly cooked and very well seasoned. My date and I agreed that it was the best meal we had while in Vegas. I'd probably be back.

Sage>>>Alize

Jean-Georges: classy, well-appointed, great food

Mastros: chain

More and more I have become a Mastros hater (note, I've only been to the Beverly Hills one, which is simply not good). I've been told that other outposts don't overseason their food the way the BH one does and are better, but still why bother with the place when in Vegas?

There's also the chance they won't accept your Mlife comps.

Did you look into Michael Mina at Bellagio?

Andre Rochat's restaurants Alize and Andre's are basically clip joints, they exist to eat up the comps of the high rollers and the few suckers who wander in and are willing to pay these astronomical prices for a service and devour style that was dying 15 years ago, and very solid but otherwise unremarkable food presentations. Essentially they are both very safe restaurants for French fine dining - at a ridiculous price.

but.....

They both have some of the best wine values for the dollar if you are a fan of vintage bottles. That is really the true brilliance of these two places, Andrehas a sick wine collection, and he is willing to resell bottles at a very reasonable markup - he dousn't gouge his customers. When you spend $700 for a 1965 rarity, chances are he is only making 50-100 on the markup. He is known to be a really savvy wine buyer, so he gets vintage product cheaper than any other restaurant in Vegas. When I went there we had a '66 Chateau Haut-Brion that was very reasonably priced, and the product was well maintained. Andres's is also know for it's really brilliant collection of Calvados- enjoy the ciguar room, but ignore the ciguars, just sit around and explore the sick collection... The room is almost always empty, great place to bring friends for an interesting experience.

The L'Atelier coffee bean is Collorado River Roasters, a local brand which is roasted just to the east of Vegas, right before the Hover Dam. I have switched from Lavazza and Illy beans to CRR at home, good prices and superior product. They also use CRR at Batali's places when they make coffee infused or flavored deserts, but they use illy in the espresso machine last I checked. I agree, really brilliant coffee!

I've never done the 4 course menu before, I usually go overboard here but next time I will try this, I am cutting back on my food intake and trying to live a healthier lifestyle but I don't want to give up the simple pleasures like this.

i did a michael mina TR a little over a year ago and i had both caviar and steak. was a very good if not great meal. 2 diners will probably run you around 400 if you're drinkers. 300 if you're not. it's worth it but i'm not in a hurry to go back there again.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/10...l#post25672559

i did the tasting course at the bellagio mina and not only was i not impressed i actually thought the meal was terrible.

the amuse buche was great and then every subsequent course was terrible.

was really suprised as i've liked his other restaurants.....dunno maybe it was an off night as i've heard nothing but good things from others.

ate upstairs at RM yesterday and was really underwhelmed. my dad and i got one of the normal tasting menus and one of the chef's prestige menus. the food was overpriced and mediocre and the service was ridiculously slow. what should have been a 2 hour meal was turned into a 3.5 hour meal by ridiculous pauses between each courses and a 45 minute (!!!!) wait between when we asked the waiter for the check and when he finally brought me a receipt to sign.

would not recommend RM to anyone.

Thanks. We actually asked about the coffee and they told us it was something like "L'Atelier coffee" which was of course no help at all.

I'll say it for all- the four course meal was plenty of food, we added one other entree to split and both agreed it was just a bit too much food. It's also a cheap way to get out of a great restaurant- two four course menus, the extra entree (which was like $50), three glasses of wine, one cocktail, two cups of coffee + tax + tip = $350. If you're not drinkers you'll be out of there for $200.

Kanen, after reading your linked post again, I must say that I find your views are incredibly informative. I definitely respect the opinion of a handful of posters on here much more after reading about their food and drink preferences.

Somehow, though, when I clicked on your linked post via my cell phone, it brought me to a post by some guy named PhatPots who seems to have very little clue of what I would consider quality dining. To each his own, I guess, and I apologize for the rambling post.

In short, I'd like to thank the frequent contributors to this thread, especially the ones who take food seriously during their trips and not as just another afterthought.

Also wondering about this, have a lot of comps to use up at Venetian and wouldn't mind giving one of these a whirl. Are they only bone-in ribeyes or do they have other cuts like NY strip available too?

riverboatking Joe Tall saw a photo of me on day 1 and said you were on my right. This would've been your second table. The fellow three to your left / two to mine was Russell, now 4th in chips heading into day 7.

I went to e with ClarkNasty and concur with his evaluation. Def worth one visit. Not sure that it's worth two at those prices. It was $1,050 for two with one high-end wine pairing and one regular pairing. I do recommend this pairing approach if you don't mind sharing glasses with your dinner partner. The two sherries were poor. The trockenberenauslese (might have spelled that wrong) was excellent, and Patrick our pourer was kind enough to fill it three times for me. We had a couple excellent reds, nothing spectacular though imo. Several of the dishes were very good, especially the chicken nuggets or whatever they renamed the back sweetmeats. Some were good but no more, but overall def worth going once.

Jaleo has the best gin and tonic I have had. We went back the next night just to drink those and have a few tapas. The organic egg with caviar was the clear favorite. Some of the tapas, particularly the two shrimp dishes we had, were at best average. The veal cheeks were decent. The sausage and mushroom was excellent. If you go, I strongly recommend the gin and tonics and some research before ordering tapas.

We then had drinks at American Fish. The Basil Hayden bourbon gets a thumbs up. I also had an old fashioned, which was quite good if a little sweet for my taste.

Lotus of Siam was closed. We ended up going to a decent strip mall sushi place. After that it was poker and a run in the main event. There was a dinner at Delmonicos, but I was playing day 3 of the main. Busted out three hours too late for dinner and four hours too early to cash. Eventually I went to Todd's English Pub with ClarkNasty. Gave him **** for suggesting British food, but the cask beer was very good and I loved my overly fatty but very-well-accompanied roast beef sandwich with horseradish and blue cheese sauces. No question I'll be back to that one.

I also randomly had blueberry French toast at Mon amie at Paris, everything on the side so the toast didn't get soggy. For the money (<$20 with coffee), it was excellent.

Can't believe I didn't get to Milos or Lotus, but so it goes. Next time!